Village of Thurston

Council Meeting Minutes

February 8, 2001

Meeting called to order at 7:00 pm by Mayor Hite.

Pledge

Roll call: Bob Ortman – Present; Nona Buskirk – Present; Ellen Taylor – Present; Roger Aubery – Present; Wendy Cooper – Absent; Mary Barber – Absent; Jo-Ann Hite – Present; Aaron Reedy – Present

Ellen made a motion to approve the January 2001 minutes. Roger second. All yea.

Ellen made a motion to approve the January 2001 financial statement. Nona second. All yea.

JoAnn had called Nancy Jones who was here with the housing grant. She said we could have released all the grants one year after the grant people left here. Warren Hiles can come off, too.

Ellen made a motion to adopt Resolution # 2-8-01-1 as an emergency, authorizing the release of mortgage on Donald & Sharon Seymour’s property located at 8050 High St., Thurston, Ohio. Roger second. All yea.

Ellen made a motion to adopt Resolution # 2-8-01-2 as an emergency, authorizing the release of mortgage on Larry & Lynetta Anders’ property located at 8105 Long St., Thurston, Ohio. Roger second. All yea.

Ellen made a motion to adopt Resolution # 2-8-01-3 as an emergency, authorizing the release of mortgage on Cinda Duggan’s property located at 2258 Main St., Thurston, Ohio. Nona second. All yea.

Roger made a motion to adopt Resolution # 2-8-01-4 as an emergency, authorizing the release of mortgage on Charles P. & Brenda Miller’s property located at 2071 1^st St., Thurston, Ohio. Ellen second. All yea.

Ellen made a motion to adopt Resolution # 2-8-01-5 as an emergency, authorizing the release of mortgage on Roger & Linda Aubery’s property located at 2409 Wilson Ave., Thurston, Ohio. Nona second. Roger abstained. All yea.

Roger made a motion to adopt Resolution # 2-8-01-6 as an emergency, authorizing the release of mortgage on Warren G. Hiles’ property located at 2176 3rd St., Thurston, Ohio. Nona second. All yea.

The “Certificate of the Total Amounts from all Sources Available for Expenditures & Balances” was taken to Ed at the County Auditor’s office. He stamped it (1-19-01) and gave us back a copy. Everything was fine with it.

Since the Fire Department was in training, no representatives attended the meeting. The Walnut Township Trustee letter was not discussed.

JoAnn said we are getting ready for audit. Tara came 1/26/2001 and picked up some things to work on.

JoAnn said all the W-2 forms for 2000 were finished by 12/31/2001. All people have them as of 1/15/2001.

JoAnn said the legal notice about 2000 Annual Financial Reports being available was in the Lancaster paper 1/12/2001.

JoAnn spoke with Nancy Jones from the block grant. She said there will be no block grants to fix up housing anymore. She said we might try to call Hurley to see what grants are out there for us. We might be able to get something for sidewalks.

Ellen made a motion that the cost of the state audit should be divided between the General Fund (50%), Water Fund (25%) and the Fire Fund (25%). Nona second. All yea.

The Annual Appropriations were briefly discussed. Ellen made a motion to adopt Ordinance # 2-8-01-1, to make appropriations for current expenses and other expenditures of the Village of Thurston during the fiscal year ending December 31, 2001. Nona second. All yea.

Roger made a motion to adopt Ordinance # 2-8-01-2, establishing a fund for the proper public purpose to expend Village money for the purchase of miscellaneous municipal expenditures. This is created basically to pay for refreshment costs. Ellen second. All yea.

Roger made a motion to allow the monies to be paid to create a website for the Village of Thurston, which includes Internet access. Nona second. All yea. This will be purchased through Buckeye Internet in Lancaster.

Council discussed getting quotes for replacement lighting for the front of the Municipal Building. The local kids have damaged the old light. We would like to look at getting two lights on each side of the face of the building that would set up higher than the old, and would have better protection from vandals. We would also like to get a quote for an option to put motion lighting on both sides and rear of the Municipal building.

JoAnn said we need to get an electric jack ran to the north wall of the Council Chambers. We will get a quote for this, too. Lowell Hite said we should get an emergency light for Council Chambers that comes on when the power goes out. All agreed. We will get a quote for this, too.

Ellen said we should also look into the price of a carbon monoxide detector/smoke detector combination since the Clerk spends so much time in the building.

Aaron will also get a quote from Fred Reedy to build and install wood shelves in the old police office for better storage.

Larry Kahle wants to tear the old Keller Lime building down because it’s not worth fixing up. Ellen said it would be excellent for fire training to burn it down. No action was taken. JoAnn said Kahle has permission to proceed with the doublewide home development project. Leitnaker will be the contractor. He may start as soon as 30 days. Kahle also bought Wendy’s old house and paid up the past due water/sewer bills.

Ellen made a motion to pay bills. Nona second. All Yea.

Roger discussed having a Senior Citizen dinner. No action was taken.

JoAnn brought up that at the last BOPA meeting, they discussed getting stricter with red-tagging people.

Nona asked who was going to work in the cemeteries/streets this year. No action was taken.

We received a water bill from Baltimore for $9.00. Lowell took it back and told them about it. They checked and said the meter has been broken. They’ve been estimating for the last two to three months. They made a corrected billing by hand (estimated) and gave to Lowell.

Bob asked if we’d heard anything from Bob Black about the room across the hall. No one has heard anything.

As there was no more business to discuss, Roger made a motion to adjourn. Ellen second. All yea. The time is 7:40p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

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Aaron L. Reedy, Clerk